Hitting ‘Publish’ on your Saving goals

Without pressing the ‘Publish’ button all my intentions and planning and behind-the-scenes work has no effect.

Do you ‘Hit Publish’ in your life?

Similarly, reading personal finance blogs and books are great for getting you more clued-up, but if you do not ‘hit publish’ by opening a savings account or setting up an investment portfolio then you’re not going to building your savings up for the long term.

Hitting publish is scary.

You’re making intentions real. And if they don’t work out, then you open up yourself to the possibility of potentially made a bad choice.

What if I can’t afford to save a certain percentage of my income?

What if I pick bad investments and lose money?

What happens when I try my hardest to put money away but I have to dip into my savings?

You won’t know until you ‘Hit Publish’ on your plans

I started in investing in October 2007.

Yep, the peak of the stock market before the crazy ‘crashes’ of 2008 and 2009.

But I’m so glad I did. If I had waited just a few months I’m sure I would have freaked out as I watched investments around the world go lower and lower. But I had started so I kept going. And, in fact, as I continued to invest into tumbling stock markets I’ve actually come out ahead so far. Four years of investing and my investment accounts are in the positive, and currently value much more than they would have been if they had simply been saved in cash.

I ‘Hit Publish’ on my investing plans. And I have continued to invest and learn.

It’s January as I write this. Money is tight for most of us after Christmas spending. You may be tempted to wait to get your money-game in order because it’s not the right time.

But, it’s never the right time.

There’s always more research we could do, or wait until a more favourable time when we have more spare time or spare money. But that time never comes.

Hit Publish. You’ll learn so much on the journey and it’s easier to tweak your plans once you’ve started than getting started.